Poll: How will you play?

Hello, while the title is self explanatory and it is DEFINITELY a touchy subject, I do believe that this needs to be asked again due to the fact that asking only those who participated in the CBT (a.k.a. Xbox-only players) lead to a heavily biased result for this one particular question on the CBT survey.

This link right here is the link for the survey. I would urge all those within any communities (i.e. Discord, social media) for this game to share this survey and to please keep it civil--I know that's a hard one to ask for, but please bear with me on that. I'd much rather have the data speak for itself.

Apologies for the late response there, as the survey was something I wanted to let sit on its own for a while. I did think about doing a "both" option, but I also know that people that do play any game on multiple platforms typically have one platform they play it on over another (whether by preference, convenience or otherwise) and that no one will realistically ever split their time evenly between all platforms an online game is available for. If it helps those who are planning on playing PSO2 on both Xbox and PC, answer the question as if you are expecting to spend more time on one or the other.

I do wish to thank those who have voted on the survey as well as all who responded here for keeping it civil. That being said, please feel free to keep sharing the survey to those who have not put a vote in yet, as more data is always better. And of course, please continue to keep things civil and let the data speak for itself.

This sentiment would be true were the game being ported from Xbox One to PC or were its PC version were planned to be a UWP app. However most indications point to PSO2's PC version being released in a similar state as its Japanese counterpart... a base installation and launcher (only this time not distributed through the website but through Steam / MS Store) which handles the actual patch updates and game settings (this has been proven through references to the launcher in the Support site and Manual).

However, to quote myself from another thread:

From what is seen, all versions of PSO2 whether they be NA or JP and/or PC, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, are all compiled from the same source code with pre-compilers (or if statements) in place to compile features specific to either version or platform. Its for this reason that features and content that was exclusive to SEA, TW or NA still appear in the JP version from time to time.

So... in another post I made a theory that most of the fixes to issues found in Open Beta might come around as one big patch when Open Beta ends to transition the game to full launch. This 'big patch' would still need to be compiled from that same source code so its entirely possible that during that process Online R&D (the dev team) could also compile a "PC build" with "NA Edition" (each version is called an "Edition" in the source code...) parameters used for compiling the Xbox One version set to "true" (add NA server address, include NA features, gate content, etc).

Of course not to say the whole process is simple, there's also internal testing (not everything requires a public beta) and submitting the game to its distribution platforms, but in terms of code base... most of NA's changes could very much already be working on PC. In fact, there's some minor indications this may be the case as some screenshots used for the manual appear to be from the PC version. Here's an example...

And I even provided a few screenshots showing that the PC version's been in the works internally:

This is the Xbox One main menu we know:

Now here's the PSO2 Menu as shown in the NA version's manual:

Less options... could have come from an earlier build right? well thats what most of you would think but in fact... this screenshot appears to be from the PC version.

since other than the removal of options related to PSO2es and Sega ID accounts, most of it lines up whereas Xbox One's options line up more with the PS4 version:

As aside from the removal of options relating to PSO2es, Offline Character Creator and Changing account info and the addition of language settings and window settings, the options listed and how they are phrased match. Both version's menu window even say different things as the JP PC version says "ログインメニュー" (LOGIN MENU) while the PS4 version says "タイトルメニュー" (TITLE MENU).

To add to that, that screenshot of the PC version's "LOGIN MENU" is the same as the one from when the official website first leaked and the manual was available, so this PC version used for (some) manual screenshots had been working since Closed Beta.

Also in regards to "test if the cross platform works" statements... PS4 and PS Vita Closed Betas in Japan were done on separate servers. Once the Closed Beta was over it was just simply allowed to join the 'live' PC servers. In this case its an inverse, the PC version's ready but until Xbox One's completed its Beta we aint getting that PC version...

or were its PC version were planned to be a UWP app. However most indications point to PSO2's PC version being released in a similar state as its Japanese counterpart... a base installation and launcher

You seem to be under the false assumption that the game's entire code is client side. It becomes especially apparent when you go linkdead, you can move around in the environment but you can't interact with anything because all of the code for that is stored serverside, not to mention that some MMOs store positional data. As someone in the reddit thread I cite says:

and have you looked at PSO2's code or spoken to people who have looked at PSO2's code then @Mattwo7 ? While the game does indeed have server-side data and processes, it does quite a dangerously amount of things client-side including physics, combat, movement and so forth.

Of course, if what you say were 100% true, that the game does EVERYTHING server-side then... what's that got to do with the way the "dumb rendering engine" is distributed? or whether that "dumb rendering engine" is a regular EXE file or a UWP app.

Of course, if what you say were 100% true, that the game does EVERYTHING server-side the

When did I say that? Besides, my point was as long as there is any code at all code on the serverside that's different, the NAPC version won't be exactly the same as the JPPC version and thus things can go wrong that the JPPC version didn't have. I feel like there's some serious crossed wires here...

Also

and have you looked at PSO2's code or spoken to people who have looked at PSO2's code then @Mattwo7 ? While the game does indeed have server-side data and processes, it does quite a dangerously amount of things client-side including physics, combat, movement and so forth.

You countered your own point here, I don't need to look if you're just going to validate what I said.

Apologies on that end then, just kinda wanted to inform on that end and misunderstood your statement is all. xD

Well to add to that, it would still be a part of the same source code from which PSO2 clients (and servers in this case) are built from. In addition to leftover localization codes (JP has SEA and now NA specific code which goes unused) there's also code for server-side features. In this case, its probs something that once again... comes down to the compile build.

I suppose a parallel would be similar to how game engines like Unreal Engine 4 support allowing you to work on the server within the engine and setting the compilation to either Client or Server. So while the code may be different... it would all still be there.

and have you looked at PSO2's code or spoken to people who have looked at PSO2's code then @Mattwo7 ? While the game does indeed have server-side data and processes, it does quite a dangerously amount of things client-side including physics, combat, movement and so forth.

You countered your own point here, I don't need to look if you're just going to validate what I said.

Again, the result of me misunderstanding what you were trying to say. Your statement made me think that you were trying to say that PSO2 was 100% server authorative... a game that sends its input to the server which then tells the client what to do with its local assets. In terms of programming, PSO2 is only vaguely similar to what the ideal programming model for MMOs are meant to be like... SO MUCH is done client side that doesn't even get checked by the server, half the time the server's just there to relay whatever the other client did or host the actual session.